ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Favored Chris's Bad Boy ($4.80) broke the six-furlong track record under Jono Jones with an overpowering victory in the $137,375 Kennedy Road Stakes.
Chris's Bad Boy covered the distance in 1:08.05, which was .12 faster than the previous record, set by Great Defender in the 1999 Kennedy Road. Chris's Bad Boy earned $82,425 for Alpine Stable and trainer Vito Armata, who claimed him for $47,500 last April.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - King Robyn won his fourth consecutive stakes, and sixth of the year, in Friday's $150,000 Hollywood Turf Express at Hollywood Park.
With the victory, King Robyn has won stakes at each of the six Thoroughbred race meetings in Southern California - Santa Anita winter-spring (San Pedro Stakes), Hollywood spring-summer (Harry Henson Stakes), Del Mar (Green Flash Handicap), Fairplex Park (Foothill Stakes), and Oak Tree at Santa Anita (Morvich Handicap).
ALBANY, Calif. - Argentine-bred Star Cross ($15) scored his first U.S. victory in the $85,500 Forty-Niner Handicap at Golden Gate Fields.
Star Cross, 6, rain in blinkers for the first time and overcame trouble on the first turn to win the 1 1/16-mile race by one length over Truly a Judge in 1:42.26. Pacesetting favorite Long Gone Con, who grabbed a quarter coming out of the gate, was third, another three-quarters of a length back.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The reconfigured Matriarch Stakes on Sunday at Hollywood Park may have the best field of turf females assembled this year for a race without the Breeders' Cup in its title.
For the first time in the 23-year history of the Matriarch, the $500,000 race is being run over a mile on turf, having been run at 1 1/8 miles in recent years.
The Matriarch has been enthusiastically supported, drawing the winners of four Grade 1 or Group 1 races in 2003 - Etoile Montante, Heat Haze, Island Fashion, and Musical Chimes.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The Hollywood Derby ends the West Coast turf season for the 3-year-olds, but in recent years, it has served more as a preview of coming attractions. The last two winners of the derby, a Grade 1 race, were Denon and Johar, both of whom went on to have brilliant careers as older horses.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Quest finished a nose behind Evening Attire in the $582,000 on Friday but was awarded his first stakes victory after the Churchill Downs stewards determined Evening Attire had interfered with him at several intervals in the stretch.
"If he doesn't come out on me, I win," said Javier Castellano, who rode Quest for trainer Nick Zito.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Two days before Friday's $150,000 Top Flight Handicap at Aqueduct, trainer Tony Dutrow said the race's mile distance would suit his filly, Willa on the Move, but would be a stumbling block for Randaroo, a filly he previously trained.
Dutrow was dead wrong about Randaroo.
Randaroo won the Grade 2 Top Flight by two lengths over Beauty Halo, who finished 3 1/4 lengths in front of the third-place finisher, Pocus Hocus. Willa on the Move, the 6-5 favorite in the 12-horse field of fillies and mares, was 10th.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The experience of a maiden win over a mile on turf at Santa Anita helped Mambo Slew get her first stakes victory in Friday's $100,000 Miesque Stakes at Hollywood Park.
Sent off as the favorite in a field of 11, Mambo Slew rallied from third to win the Grade 3 Miesque for 2-year-old fillies by 1 1/2 lengths over Ticker Tape, an English import.
Mambo Slew ($8.60) ran a mile on turf in 1:36.17. The field's only winner in a one-mile turf race, Mambo Slew gave jockey Mike Smith his third win from his first four mounts in Friday's program.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - A particularly strong edition of the $75,000 Montauk Handicap is on tap at Aqueduct on Sunday.
The major players in the nine-horse field of New York-bred fillies and mares are the 2002 winner, Along Came Mary, and runner-up, Princess Dixie, who are stablemates. The biggest threat to Along Came Mary and Princess Dixie, who are not coupled in the wagering, is Message Red, who should be hitting peak form in her third start following a layoff.
The field also includes stakes winners Marc's Rainbow, Golden Damsel, and Flag Pin.